Latest / Learn Amharic with Fexingo / Asking 'How Much' in Amharic
Transcript
- Lucas: Welcome back to Learn Amharic with Fexingo. I'm Lucas. Luna: And I'm Luna. Hey, last episode we went to the market and bought bananas. That was fun. Lucas: Yeah, we learned ሙዝ and how to ask ስንት ነው? That's 'how much is it?' in Amharic. Luna: Right, ስንት ነው? I remember that. But Lucas, I'm still not super confident with prices. Can we go deeper? Lucas: Absolutely. Today we're going to focus on asking and talking about prices. So let's start with the question: ስንት ነው? Luna: ስንት ነው? Say it once more? Lucas: ስንት ነው? That means 'how much is it?' You can use it for anything you want to buy. Luna: ስንት ነው? Got it. So if I point to a banana, I say ሙዝ ስንት ነው? Lucas: Exactly. ሙዝ ስንት ነው? That's perfect. Now, the seller might answer with a number and 'ብር'. Like, አስር ብር ነው. Luna: አስር ብር ነው? So ten birr? Lucas: Right. አስር is ten, ብር is the currency, and ነው means 'it is'. So አስር ብር ነው. Luna: አስር ብር ነው. That sounds good. But what if I think it's too expensive? Can I say that? Lucas: Yes, you can say በጣም ውድ ነው. That means 'it's very expensive.' በጣም means 'very', ውድ is 'expensive'. Luna: በጣም ውድ ነው. That'll be useful when I'm bargaining. And if it's cheap? Lucas: Then you say ርካሽ ነው. 'It's cheap.' ርካሽ. Luna: ርካሽ ነው. So cheap and expensive. Good. Can we try a little conversation? Lucas: Sure. I'll be the seller. You point to some bananas and ask the price. Luna: Okay. ሙዝ ስንት ነው? Lucas: አስር ብር ነው. Luna: በጣም ውድ ነው! አምስት ብር? Lucas: Oh, you're bargaining! That's great. But we haven't learned numbers beyond ten yet. Let's keep it simple. So you can say ዋጋው ስንት ነው? That's another way to ask 'what is the price?' Luna: ዋጋው ስንት ነው? So ዋጋ is 'price'? Lucas: Exactly. ዋጋው means 'the price'. So ዋጋው ስንት ነው? Luna: ዋጋው ስንት ነው? That's a nice phrase to have. Lucas: Yeah. And if you want to say 'the price is ten birr', you can say ዋጋው አስር ብር ነው. Luna: ዋጋው አስር ብር ነው. So we have a few ways to talk about price now. Lucas: Exactly. And you know, Fexingo is all about helping you make actual progress with Amharic. We deliberately don't run ads on these episodes. If you want to support that choice, the link is buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Yeah, that's a nice way to keep this ad-free and focused on learning. So let's practice a bit more. Lucas: Okay. Let's imagine you're at a market and you see some oranges. How do you ask the price? Luna: ብርቱካን ስንት ነው? Lucas: Perfect. And if the seller says አስር ብር ነው, and you think it's cheap? Luna: ርካሽ ነው! Lucas: You got it. Now let's do a full mini-scene. I'm the seller, you're the buyer. You see some apples. Luna: ፖም ስንት ነው? Lucas: አስር ብር ነው. Luna: ዋጋው ስንት ነው? አስር ብር? በጣም ውድ ነው! Lucas: Oh, you combined both questions. That's excellent. So you used ዋጋው ስንት ነው? and then said it's expensive. Luna: Thanks. I'm trying to get comfortable with these phrases. Let me repeat them: ስንት ነው, ዋጋው ስንት ነው, በጣም ውድ ነው, ርካሽ ነው, አስር ብር ነው. Lucas: That's a solid set. And remember, you can use ስንት ነው for anything, not just prices. Like 'what time is it?' ሰዓት ስንት ነው? Luna: Oh, that's handy. So ስንት is a versatile word. Lucas: Yes. But don't worry about that today. Focus on the price phrases. Let's do one more repetition. Repeat after me: ስንት ነው? Luna: ስንት ነው? Lucas: አስር ብር ነው. Luna: አስር ብር ነው. Lucas: በጣም ውድ ነው. Luna: በጣም ውድ ነው. Lucas: ርካሽ ነው. Luna: ርካሽ ነው. Lucas: ዋጋው ስንት ነው? Luna: ዋጋው ስንት ነው? Lucas: Great job, Luna. You're ready for the market now. Luna: I hope so. I'll try using these next time I go shopping. Thanks, Lucas. Lucas: You're welcome. And to our listeners, practice these phrases with Fexingo. See you next time! Luna: Bye!